parent[hood] put on some gangsta.rap and handle it

Kids + Cleaning = Happy mom or Angry mom

TGIF! or so they say…as a Mom we look forward to TGIMonday!! and after this winter break I am ready to go back to the morning chaos of sending them off to school. And less arguing about cleaning and picking up plus the house will stay clean longer!!

The past 2 weeks have been filled with Holidays, visitors, trips up north, board games, Netflix, teaching the kids to cook, Goodwill trips, and a million demands for them to help clean up.

My house has been constantly in the verge of exploding. everything out-of-place, like a damn tornado came thru here. I just don’t know how some of you do it? I mean do I just give up and accept the fact that I will forever be cleaning after them? Cuz I refuse to do that. Then again I also don’t want to be popping a vessel asking them to pick up after themselves all day. I have googled and Pinterested my little fingers off trying to find ways to get them to clean up.

Looking online you can find all sorts of ways: there is the Job Chart where you put a sticker where it counts, giving them money to do certain chores, making it a game, checklists, setting up a Toy Jail where they have to do certain things to get the toy back….and the list goes on.

Yeah they all sound doable and you can go crazy pinning and printing out cute little checklists and this and that. Honestly it all comes down to your kids. You can’t make someone do something they don’t want to do, period. Maybe one of those options will work today but there is no guarantee it will work tomorrow.

We have had some good days where everything goes smooth and we are all one big happy family eating dinner out of a spotless kitchen but for the most part it has ended in a screaming match and the hubby comes home to one pissed of Mom who just wants to order pizza.

Thru it all I have come up with a couple of ways that usually have a positive outcome and the house looks a little bit better at the end. (yelling still included)

MAKE IT A GAME

Turns out this one has a 90% success rate but only with the Monkey. Ex: lets see how fast you can pick up all of the___? We either do by items (toys, clothes, trash) or colors.

TIME THEM

Tell them they need to pick up for 10 mins and then get a 5 min break. I change up the times for each kid, the Princess cleans up for 30 mins and takes a break for 10 mins.

SECTION OFF THE ROOM

You can visually section a room into 4 sections or tape up streamers to make it more fun. They will need to clean one section at a time This one works great with the Princess.

Those options work mostly for their bedrooms which are the main rooms that need cleaning up. As for the rest of the house, it’s a different story but this ONE way works wonders.

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PICK IT UP OR I’M THROWING IT IN THE TRASH!!

This one little saying works 99.99999% of the time. It’s my favorite to use. So simple yet so efficient. But yes there has been times when something has been thrown away. That’s just how life is. Sorry.

At the end of the day all that matters is that the kids are happy and alive. Anyone else have other options or tips that keep you sane when it comes to a keeping a clean home?